NAL - NORWOOD ABBEY LTD
Up 79.07%
This thing is breaking out big time!
Needlefree Injection Patent Granted
NEEDLEFREE INJECTION PATENT GRANTED
Medical technologies group Norwood Abbey Ltd [ASX:NAL] advises that the Australian Commissioner of Patents
has granted an additional patent to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (‘MIT’), flowing from Norwood
Abbey’s research at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts. NAL has an exclusive world wide license over this patent
and all intellectual property flowing from its sponsored research at MIT.
The patent is Australian Patent number 2003272279 and titled “Measuring Properties of an Anatomical Body”
Overall, the patent, which has a substantial number of individual patent claims, covers the concept of measuring
the mechanical properties of the skin (eg thickness, resistance etc) The technology is aimed at assisting in the
measurement of the mechanical resistance of the skin of an individual so as to be able to adjust the force of a
needle-free injector with the aim of being able to inject a drug to any specific required depth. The claims cover not
only the skin but also internal body surfaces.
In the main, different drugs are optimally best delivered at a particular depth (tissue layer. Traditionally, the
administration of drugs via injections through the skin has, in respect to the ‘depth of delivery’, been relatively
imprecise. As a result, standard dosages have in many cases had to be greater than would optimally be desired.
The ability to deliver a drug, to an optimally controlled depth, has the potential to allow for a more efficacious
patient outcome and also the possibility of reductions in the dosages required.
In particular, the patent includes claims that are based upon a medical device or method that includes a sensor
that is configured to measure a property of an outer layer of an anatomical body surface (eg skin).
- The sensor includes a source probe configured to stimulate a local surface of an outer layer of
an anatomical body surface.
- The sensor also includes a detector configured to measure a response of the outer layer
resulting from source probe stimulation.
- A controller coupled to the source probe and the sensor drives the source probe using a tailored
stochastic resistance and determines the properties of the outer layer using the measured
response received by the detector.
- The sensor can be used with medical devices such as needle-free injectors and micro-needle
devices. A servo-controller coupled to the drug injector and the skin sensor, can be used to
adjust the injection pressure of the drug injector to selectively deliver the drug to the body
based on the skin properties.
The ability to control the delivery of a drug to a targeted depth is a significant development. The ability to deliver a
drug to a designated depth can both increase the efficacy of a drug, as well as possibly enable a decrease in the
amount of ‘drug’ needed to achieve the required therapeutic or prophylactic outcome.
While the technology was primarily developed as part of the ‘Needle-free Injection’ project, the patent may have
wider applications.
Norwood Abbey has an exclusive international license over the technology.
To find out more about the Norwood group, visit
www.norwoodabbey.com